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Thursday, June 14, 2012

U.S. Department of State: Secretary Clinton Delivers Remarks on Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said that the Obama Administration’s strategy involving Syria, is very ‘clear.’ And said in a way that almost sounded sarcastic. As if she’s shocked that no one else understands it and then she laid out why she believes this strategy, if you want to call it that, by laying out what sounded like goals. ‘We want to see the bloodshed in Syria to end, we want the Assad Regime to stop terrorizing its people. We want the Syrian people to be able to build a future for themselves.’ Well that’s great, but unless you are part of the Syrian Regime, or some other type of authoritarian, who doesn’t believe in those goals, of course you believe in human rights for everybody.

That’s like saying you believe in democracy, the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, the American flag, apple pie and all the rest of the things that Americans tend to love. Good luck finding someone in this country who disagrees with any of those things. Goals aren’t the same as a strategy. Goals are what you want to accomplish. A strategy is the plan to achieve those goals. Something that Secretary Clinton understands, the Obama Administration has goals when it comes to Syria, but hasn’t shown much in any strategy to achieve those goals.

The good news is that President Obama and his national security team, seems to at least be preparing to put all options on the table, as they relate to Syria. According to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, the Defense Department is looking into what it would cost to back the Syrian rebels. What type of military President Assad has, what type of resistance that they could put up, as far as planes, weapons, etc that they could use. Not only against the Syrian rebels, but how they could respond to a coalition force. If a coalition force was put together, if NATO and the Arab League were to get involved to protect the Syrian rebels. As they take the fight to the Assad security forces.

In other words a no fly zone, over a country of twenty-million people. About the size of Iraq physically, not quite as big. A No Fly Zone should be the last option we go to as far as getting involved in Syria, but the fact that they are even looking at that, tells me the Pentagon is preparing to get involved. Goals are great to have. ‘This is what we want to accomplish.’ But that’s just the first step. Without a strategy to layout how your plan in accomplishing those goals, you are going to come up short. You’ll end up trying a bunch of different things, without putting much thought into them. Essentially flipping a coin to see what works and what doesn’t and end up flying in a dark and hope you don’t crash into anything.